Uppsala University in stable shape – but some concern on education

The governing board of Uppsala University, the University Board, has adopted the Annual Report for 2025 and approved the budget submission for 2027–2029.

The Annual Report shows that the University’s operations are in stable shape. Turnover has increased by nearly SEK 400 million from the 2024 level and by over SEK 1.4 billion in the last five years. The number of employees has decreased slightly, which reverses the recent trend.

In 2025, the University had almost 54,000 students, corresponding to 29,743 full-time equivalent (FTE) students. The number of fee-paying FTE students increased by 18 per cent compared with 2024 and the total number of FTE students by four per cent.

The number of outgoing exchange students has increased by almost 20 per cent and the number of incoming by five per cent. The University still has more incoming than outgoing exchange students, but the increased number of outgoing students has led to a better balance.

Funding agreement target met

The University has met the funding agreement target set by the government for 2025. The University also has special targets for the expansion of education and training in certain shortage occupations. For preschool and school teacher education in 2025–2028, the target is to increase the number of degrees awarded to a total of 1,785 over the four-year period. The expansion is proceeding as planned, with a total of 612 degrees awarded in 2025. In the healthcare and medical programmes, the target is 2,060 degrees over the four-year period. In 2025, a total of 468 students were awarded degrees and the assessment is that the target will be achieved.

Education at first-cycle (Bachelor’s) and second-cycle (Master’s) levels shows a deficit of SEK 29 million and the capital balance carried forward is SEK 51 million (excluding contract education).

The costs for education at Bachelor’s and Master’s level increased by just under two per cent compared with 2024. This is a lower rate than the cost growth for the University as a whole.

Stable research

In the area of research, the University shows stable development and continues to increase revenue from external funders and grants awarded by research funding bodies. External grants account for 50 per cent of the total revenue for research (excluding contract research). The Swedish Research Council remains the University’s largest source of grants, followed by the Wallenberg Foundations and the EU. The University’s total share of the Swedish Research Council’s unrestricted project grants and starting grants is approximately 15 per cent (16 per cent in 2024).

Research has a surplus of SEK 53 million, compared with a deficit of SEK 36 million in 2024. The capital balance carried forward is SEK 572 million (excluding contract research).

In 2025, the costs for research funded by direct government funding and grants rose by 2.6 per cent compared with 2024.

Increased citation rate and strong innovation

The University conducts high-quality research and innovation. The citation rate increased by 18 per cent in the period 2020–2023 compared with 2019–2022 and our research is cited 15 per cent more than the global average. The proportion of research publications that belong to the ten per cent most cited increased between the two measurement periods (from 10 to 12 per cent).

Uppsala University is ranked among the top 15 higher education institutions in Europe in terms of value creation through spin-off companies in deep tech and life sciences (European Spinouts Report 2025).

Raise the level of funding per student

Every year the University sends a budget submission to the government as input for the central government budget.

In its budget submission for the next three-year period (2027–2029), Uppsala University pushes a number of issues, notably higher levels of funding per student, an expanded funding agreement target and limitations on the returns required from Akademiska Hus.

The level of funding for students in higher education needs to be substantially raised. At the current level, it is a challenge for Swedish higher education institutions to offer high-quality education.

The level of funding per student has not kept in line with cost growth since the mid-1990s. One reason for this is that central government decreases the upward adjustment of funding each year on the grounds that teaching must be conducted more efficiently. According to calculations from the Swedish Association of University Teachers and Researchers, the government’s latest measures to raise funding levels more or less correspond to the standard deduction for productivity gains.

In the budget submission, particular emphasis is given to the situation in the medicine programme, where the present level of funding per student does not cover the higher costs of the new medicine programme. The challenges facing the specialist nursing programme, with low numbers of students per specialisation, are also highlighted. In addition, Uppsala University considers that the funding per student should be raised for all language programmes in view of resource-intensive proficiency components. More funding is also needed for active student influence. At present, the University co-finances parts of the student unions’ activities. This puts the unions in a position of dependence on the University, which is not good.

Expand the funding agreement target

Uppsala University calls for a permanently expanded funding agreement target. For a long time, the University has reached the government’s target for number of students and it has the capacity to expand the volume of education in those programmes that are in demand from both students and the labour market, for example engineering programmes. A permanently expanded funding agreement target is also needed to be able to offer freestanding courses. The government is calling for shorter and more flexible courses for further and continuing professional development, and freestanding courses are an important component in this context.

More unrestricted research funding

Uppsala University would also like a greater proportion of research funding to be channelled directly to the universities as unrestricted direct government funding. This would put the universities in a position to plan ahead and give them scope for strategic renewal, which is the best way to create conditions for excellent research, particularly pure research, across the entire breadth of the University. Excellent research in turn leads to innovation and sustainable societal development.

Limit the returns achieved by Akademiska Hus

The costs of premises have increased in recent years for both education and research. In conclusion, Uppsala University therefore also considers that the returns required from Akademiska Hus need to be lowered and an upper limit needs to be set for returns.